Game day blog. Kings vs. Clippers- Pre-season game #2.

Game starts off with a 24 second violation on a Cousins baseline miss. It was a team turn-over but Jeter got him the ball with only 3 seconds on the clock. After a Randy Foye drive broke the seal, Tyreke Evans used a very nice elbow screen by Thompson to bury a jumper. Evans has his A game going in the first 4 minutes, taking the Clippers to the rack at will and drawing fouls. Right before the 8 minute mark, Blake Griffin showed his athleticism by flying around Thompson for a HUGE put-back. At the mid-way point: Kings 12 Clippers 12.

Jason Thompson picks up foul #3 to begin the second half of the 1st quarter and is replaced by Carl Landry. Westphal goes deeper to his bench, allowing Darnell Jackson to make his Sacramento Kings debut. Jackson quickly makes his presence felt with a block of Kaman and a nice jumper but the much bigger Kaman abuses him in the post on back to back plays. At the 2:38 mark, the Kings bring Omri Casspi and Francisco Garcia off the bench, replacing Evans and M. Landry. Cousins also returns, replacing Jackson. With 1:34 left, Cousins goes toe-to-toe with Griffin on a dunk attempt. Cousins picks up the foul but the replay says differently. Without Evans, the team is falling apart. Clippers end the quarter on a 12-3 run.

Third quarter looks a lot like the first half….miserable. Francisco Garcia has come out and played well (6 points in the first 6 minutes). Thompson is doing a great job of moving the ball but the deficit has grown. It will be interesting to see if the Kings have the type of closing speed we saw last year to at least make this a 10-15 point loss and not a 35-40 point loss. Pooh Jeter has not performed the way that anyone hoped, but it should be pointed out that Tyreke only played a total of 9:22. No one should expect Coach Westphal to bring Tyreke back out in this type of game. The team is playing inspired but sloppy ball which is probably going to lead to a very poor final outcome.

The second half of the third has the Kings scrambling. Luther Head, Casspi, Jackson, C. Landry and Garcia are on the floor. The lack of minutes for Donté Greene doesn’t bode well for his chances of landing the starting small forward spot. Carl Landry doubled his half time numbers, finishing with 12 points. I count 7 assists in the 3rd as opposed to the horrific 2 in the first half, which is a nice improvement.

DeMarcus Cousins isn’t quite ready to throw in the towel. He has 4 in the first minute, including a very nice spin baseline that led to a rim rattling dunk. Luther Head continues to penetrate and draw fouls, 8 attempts with 8 minutes left in the game is pretty impressive for a guy better known for his three point shooting. Donté Greene is alive and well, hitting a nice jumper around the 9:30 mark. Stephen Dennis looks really quick for the Clips. With 9 minutes left, DeMarcus Cousins picked up his 6th and final foul. It’s too bad, Cousins was really taking over in the post against veteran but inferior big men. The Kings defense yielded 102 points with 7:50 left. Donté Greene then picked up a loose ball and instead of taking a wide open 16-footer, he passed to a cutting Jeter for a lay-up; very nice team play. With 6 minutes left, the lead still sat at 31.

The last 6 minutes mean very little for the most part, but the team is doing a much better job of moving the ball around the court. The arena is mostly empty but still lively. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Kings are in the bonus. The Kings are still running a team of mostly veterans on the floor with 4 minutes left: Thompson, C. Landry, Casspi, Jeter and Greene. Thompson seems to be showing his buddy Donté some love, feeding him down low for a nice turn-around jumper. Greene has 10 total, 8 in the fourth. Luther Head has returned to replace Carl Landry and quickly nailed a nice 20 foot jumper. In the final 30 seconds, Head and Atchley play a nice two man game with Atchley finishing with a jump hook. The game ends with Luther Head shooting his 9th and 10th free throws of the night.

About: James Ham

James Ham is the senior editor of Cowbell Kingdom, providing extensive Kings coverage through news analysis, in-depth interviews with players and staff and daily coverage of breaking news since 2010. Along with providing original content for the site, including the Cowbell Kingdom Podcast and his weekly Sunday Musings column, James also contributes to ESPN.com and is one of the producers behind the award-winning, independent documentary film "Small Market, Big Heart".

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Founded in 2009, Cowbell Kingdom is a member of the ESPN TrueHoop Network. Its goal is to provide frontline, on-the-ground coverage of the Kings that leads to interesting and thought-provoking discussion amongst readers.